City Rail Link: 'Dame Whina Cooper' tunnel-boring machine poised for action

Friday, 7 May 2021

Dame Whina Cooper tunnel boring machine unveiled for City Rail Link Project

Auckland’s City Rail Link is another step closer to completion today with the launch of Dame Whina Cooper, the tunnel-boring machine, at the project’s Mt Eden site.

The machine, named in an ode to the Māori land rights activist, will start cutting into Auckland soil in mid-May.

The tunnel boring machine, named Dame Whina Cooper, is poised for action at City Rail Link's Mt Eden construction site.

It will excavate the first of the two underground train tunnels as part of a project that involves constructing two new underground stations, a 3.45km twin-tunnel underground rail link and a redeveloping of Mount Eden station.

Transport minister Michael Wood was joined by Dame Whina Cooper’s whanau, Auckland iwi, the city’s Mayor Phil Goff and City Rail Link workers at the launch on Friday.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff greets workers at the tunnel-boring machine launch ceremony in Mt Eden.

* City Rail Link: New Zealand's largest infrastructure build 'taking shape'

Link Alliance project director Francois Dudouit, minister Michael Wood, Auckland Mayor Phil Goff and CEO CRL Sean Sweeney pose in front of the “Dame Whina Cooper” bore machine.

Watch the ceremonial launch of the Dame Whina Cooper tunnel boring machine in Mt Eden, Auckland. (Video from May 2021)

* $13 million City Rail Link digger, 'Dame Whina Cooper', unveiled in front of her whānau

Wood described the event as an “exciting milestone” that is “helping our economic recovery and supporting jobs”.

“Building infrastructure like the City Rail Link is part of our Covid-19 economic plan. This project is providing real jobs and opportunities for thousands of Aucklanders.”

“It will give us a step-change in our public transport and cultivate a diverse and highly-skilled workforce,” he said.

Minister Michael Wood pushes the button that turns on the bore machine.

Shift engineer Marine Barthomeuf honoured tradition by breaking a ceremonial bottle of champagne on the bore machine, to mark its official launch.

Father Christopher Denham, the Dean of Auckland’s Cathedral of St Patrick and St Joseph, also blessed the machine and the teams who will operate it.

The 130 metre-long machine is scheduled to complete the first tunnel towards the end of the year.

It was an acknowledgement to St Barbara, the patron saint of miners, and others who work underground.

The first 50 metres of tunnel at Mt Eden have already been mined to provide room for the front sections of Dame Whina Cooper.

The 130 metre-long machine is scheduled to complete the first tunnel towards the end of the year, before returning to Mt Eden in sections and preparing for its second tunnel drive next year.

The two tunnels and stations are due to be completed by late 2024.

The machine will excavate 1.6 kilometres under the Central Motorway Junction and Karangahape Road into central Auckland, to connect with the CRL tunnels already built from the Britomart Station.

Once complete, the City Rail Link will carry up to 54,000 people an hour.

During Friday’s event, City Rail Link Ltd’s Chief Executive Dr Sean Sweeney congratulated workers for reassembling and commissioning the machine after its arrival in sections from China last year.

“A lot of work hours in some pretty demanding conditions have got us here today,” he said.

“Dame Whina Cooper will have its first encounter with some real dirt very soon, an encounter that shows the project remains on track despite the challenges thrown up by Covid in the past year or so.”